Dyfed-Powys Police Heddlu Dyfed-Powys | |
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Agency overview | |
Formed | 1968 |
Annual budget | £115.5 million (2020/21) [1] |
Jurisdictional structure | |
Operations jurisdiction | Ceredigion, Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire and Powys unitary authority areas, UK |
Map of Dyfed-Powys Police's jurisdiction | |
Size | 4,223 square miles (10,940 km2) |
Population | Approx 500,000 |
Legal jurisdiction | England & Wales |
Constituting instrument | |
General nature | |
Operational structure | |
Overseen by | |
Headquarters | Carmarthen |
Police officers | 1,145 (plus 87 special constables) (2020) [2] |
Police and Crime Commissioner responsible | |
Agency executive |
|
Divisions | 4 |
Facilities | |
Stations | 45 as of 2011 |
Website | |
dyfed-powys | |
RQ12653R |
Dyfed-Powys Police (Welsh : Heddlu Dyfed-Powys; DPP) is the territorial police force in Wales policing Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire (which make up the former administrative area of Dyfed) and the unitary authority of Powys (covering Brecknockshire, Radnorshire and Montgomeryshire). The force was formed in 1968, with the merger of the Carmarthenshire and Cardiganshire Constabulary, the Pembrokeshire Constabulary and the Mid Wales Constabulary. [4]
The Dyfed–Powys region covers an area of 3,360 square miles (8,700 km2), with over 350 miles (560 km) of coastline. It includes many remote rural communities and a number of old industrial areas that are currently undergoing significant change and redevelopment. The population is under 500,000, although it is boosted each year with many tourist visitors.
The force's headquarters is in Carmarthen.
As of March 2020 [update] , the force had 1,145 police officers, 87 special constables, 143 police community support officers (PCSO), 55 police support volunteers (PSV), and 674 staff. [2]
On 6 February 2006, the Home Secretary Charles Clarke proposed to merge Dyfed–Powys Police with North Wales Police, South Wales Police and Gwent Police, to form one strategic force for all of Wales. [5] Fierce opposition to the proposed changes followed from many quarters during the summer of 2006. John Reid, the new Home Secretary from 5 May 2006, abandoned the proposed restructuring of the police service in England and Wales.
In March 2022, Chief Constable Richard Lewis suggested that the four Welsh police forces should merge within eight years. If it happened, it would make the third-largest police force in England and Wales, with more than 7400 police officers. [6]
In 2010, it was announced that most UK public services would be subject to budget cuts over the next five years. Dyfed–Powys Police is one of these public services faced with this problem and had to find savings of £34 million between 2010 and 2015, and £13 million in each subsequent year. Chief Constable Ian Arundale warned that there was going to be a "significant impact" on the front line.
Arundale said he accepted that cuts had to be made in the Dyfed–Powys force area and hoped to achieve this through natural wastage and voluntary redundancies. [7] However, in 2011 the police service announced the recruitment of 39 new officers, 18 Police Constables and 21 Special Constables, showing commitment to the communities it serves during difficult financial times. [8]
In late 2010/early 2011, Dyfed–Powys Police service restructured its special constabulary. This is the part-time volunteer section; its officers are known as special constables, all of whom hold the office of constable no matter what their rank, or informally as specials. [9]
The current special constabulary management structure is:
In 2007, following a complaint, and during an investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) into financial irregularities, Chief Constable Terry Grange retired with immediate effect. Dyfed–Powys Police Authority said it had accepted with regret his retirement with immediate effect, adding that Grange "had indicated that he had allowed his private life to interfere with his professional role. This has led the police authority to consider the chief constable's position and it was considered to be appropriate to accept his retirement." [16] The IPCC continued its investigation after his retirement. [17] In newspapers of 25 November, it emerged that Grange was accused of letting his personal relationship with a judge interfere with the force's handling of child abuse claims against the judge – Grange was the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) spokesperson on child abuse issues. [18]
Dyfed is a preserved county in southwestern Wales. It is a mostly rural area with a coastline on the Irish Sea and the Bristol Channel.
Law enforcement in the United Kingdom is organised separately in each of the legal systems of the United Kingdom: England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Most law enforcement duties are carried out by those who hold the office of police constable of a territorial police force.
Police ranks are a system of hierarchical relationships in police organisations. The rank system defines authority and responsibility in a police organisation, and affects the culture within the police force. Usually, uniforms denote the bearer's rank by particular insignia affixed to the uniforms.
The Special Constabulary is the part-time volunteer section of statutory police forces in the United Kingdom and some Crown dependencies. Its officers are known as special constables.
Avon and Somerset Police is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement in the five unitary authority areas of Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset, Somerset, and South Gloucestershire, all in South West England.
Cambridgeshire Constabulary is the local territorial police force that covers the county of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough unitary authority. It provides law enforcement and security for an area of 1,311 square miles (3,400 km2) and population of 856,000 people, in a predominantly rural county. The force of Cambridgeshire includes the cities of Cambridge, Ely and Peterborough, the market towns of Chatteris, Huntingdon, March, Ramsey, St Ives, St Neots, Whittlesey, and town and Port of Wisbech. Its emblem is a crowned Brunswick star containing the heraldic badge of Cambridgeshire County Council.
Cleveland Police is a territorial police force in England responsible for the policing the boroughs of Middlesbrough and Redcar and Cleveland in North Yorkshire and Hartlepool and Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham within North East England. The force is overseen by the Cleveland Police and Crime Commissioner. Since 2022, the chief constable has been Mark Webster.
South Wales Police is one of the four territorial police forces in Wales. It is headquartered in Bridgend.
Gwent Police is a territorial police force in Wales, responsible for policing the local authority areas of Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Monmouthshire, Newport and Torfaen.
Surrey Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the county of Surrey in South East England.
Warwickshire Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing Warwickshire in England. It is the second smallest territorial police force in England and Wales after the City of London Police, with 1,126 regular officers as of July 2024. The resident population of the force area is 554,002.
North Wales Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing North Wales. Its headquarters are in Colwyn Bay. As of March 2020, the force has 1,510 police officers, 170 special constables, 182 police community support officers (PCSO), 71 police support volunteers (PSV), and 984 staff.
Mid-Wales Constabulary was the Home Office police force for the counties of Brecknockshire, Radnorshire and Montgomeryshire, Wales, between 1948 and 1968.
Carmarthenshire and Cardiganshire Constabulary was the Home Office police force for the counties of Carmarthenshire and Cardiganshire, Wales.
The Kingdom of Dyfed, one of several Welsh petty kingdoms that emerged in 5th-century sub-Roman Britain in southwest Wales, was based on the former territory of the Demetae. The medieval Irish narrative The Expulsion of the Déisi attributes the kingdom's founding to Eochaid, son of Artchorp, who was forced across the Irish sea in the 5th century; his descendants founded the line of the kings of Dyfed down to "Tualodor mac Rígin". The Normans invaded Wales, and by 1138 incorporated Dyfed into a new shire called Pembrokeshire after the Norman castle built in the Cantref of Penfro and under the rule of the Marcher Earl of Pembroke.
The Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service is the fire and rescue service covering the Welsh principal areas of Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Neath Port Talbot, Pembrokeshire, Powys and Swansea.
Richard Lewis is the chief constable of Dyfed-Powys Police.
Cairn Frederick Newton, known as Cairn Newton-Evans, is a former Welsh volunteer police officer and academic.
The Pembrokeshire Murders is a Welsh three-part television drama miniseries based on the Pembrokeshire murders by Welsh serial killer John Cooper. In 2006, newly promoted Detective Superintendent Steve Wilkins decided to reopen two unsolved 1980s murder cases linked with a string of burglaries. New advances in technology for forensic DNA analysis, witness reports and artists impressions of the suspect led to Dyfed-Powys Police reviewing a 1989 episode of Bullseye, which led to the serial killer finally being caught. It premiered on ITV on 11 January 2021.